Chris Henry, the former Cincinnati Bengals receiver, was recently identified as the first National Football League player to have died with trauma-induced brain damage while still being an active player in the NFL. Henry died last December during a domestic dispute in which he fell from the back of a pickup truck driven by his fiancée.
The House Education and Labor Committee held a hearing, Thursday, May 20, 2010 in order to discuss the prevalence of concussions in high school student athletes. The meeting also discussed the impact concussions can have on the student’s academic achievement. An estimated 400,000 student athletes sustained a concussion from 2005 – 2008.
On Thursday evening I had the pleasure of participating in a program sponsored by Neuroscience Network at the Princeton Library. Joining me was Smita Thakker-Varia, Ph.D., Carlos Salazar, A.T.C., C.S.C.S. and Niki Popyer, a student athlete. The program was sponsored by BioScience collaborative and its Neuroscience Network.
Though the Olympics bring years of hard work and dedication to fruition for many athletes, for some it brings serious injuries. Snowboarder, Kevin Pearce, a favorite to challenge gold medalist Shaun White in the halfpipe, sustained a traumatic brain injury during training December 31, 2009. Pearce struck his head on the lip of the halfpipe while attempting a double cork – a move he had performed several times before. Pearce continues to show improvement and currently resides at Craig Hospital in Englewood, Colorado.
Last week, HBO presented a 30-minute special on concussions featuring Chris Nowinski’s concussion research program. The program, part of HBO’s ongoing series Real Sports, details controversial aspects of professional sports few of us every get to learn about.
I read an interesting article recently in which Niki Popyer, a 16-year old resident of Marlboro, New Jersey, joined former players from the National Football League and asked Congress to develop concussion management guidelines after she was forced to give up basketball because she suffered multiple concussions. The bill would also establish a grant program to states to come up with ways to prevent, diagnose and treat sports-related concussions in schools.
